PrintTwo Men In A Boat (5)
The fifth comparison that emerges by comparing aspects of the life of Jonah and Jesus is the response that each makes to the fears expressed by their companions.
Jonah recognized that his disobedience was the root cause of the whole drama (1/12). He was commissioned by God to deliver God's message to Ninevah. He chose to run from God- although why he thought he could ever outrun God or escape from His presence is beyond me! Then again, disobedience has it's own way of distorting our perspective and making us think and do things that, in our saner moments, would never be part of who we are in Christ.
Somehow Jonah knew that the only way to stop the storm and save the lives of all on board that boat would be to sacrifice his life: "Throw me into the sea and it will become calm again" (1/12). I don't think Jonah had a clue about the great fish scenario that was about to launch him into becoming one of history's most controversial characters. I really believe he expected to die and that was what his disobedience deserved. He was to be surrendered into the ocean and become its victim.
I can't help but notice that the sailors, much to their credit I suppose, tried to implement a response of human effort as a way to save themselves (1/13) rather than take the one and only action that Jonah said would work. Nothing much has changed over the years. Human nature still wants to find and implement human solutions so that we save ourselves. The sacrifice of one to save the lives of many. What a great picture of the far greater sacrifice of Jesus!!
As indicated in the second of these log entries, I believe that Jesus recognized the cause of the storm that threatened His disciples was Satan himself. If this was another attempt on Jesus' life, then how He responded will be very instructive. Instead of surrendering to this attack upon His life, Jesus stood and rebuked the wind and commanded the waves to be silent – the very language He employed when casting out demons. Far from becoming the storm's victim, Jesus became its Master by exercising His unique power and authority.
What can I say to all that? Certainly this; when the storms of life come upon me, I want Jesus in my boat!! I don't want to be reliant on my rowing ability to deal with such situations. In fact, that last comment reminded me of another time when the disciples were in a boat in a storm and they were rowing hard but making little progress (Mark 6/45-51). Jesus was not in their boat that night. But about 3.00am. He came to them. "Then He climbed into the boat and the wind stopped" (6/51). What is it about Jesus and boats?!!
How did the sailors and the disciples respond? I need to explore that in my next entry.
